how to customize items in Rust

A Tutorial for Rust

in this tutorial you will learn how to customize items for Rust using the Rust workshop.

to begin, launch the Rust workshop from the main menu of Rust. you can find the icon to the workshop in the lower right corner of the main menu. (reference image below)

after the workshop launches, click on the "NEW" icon to create a new item. (reference image below)

to begin creating a new item, select the desired item from the drop-down menu. here you can choose from almost every single item in Rust; including weapons, items, clothes, deployables, and just about anything and everything else. for this tutorial, i will demonstrate the process by customizing Pants. (reference image below)

once you have chosen your desired item of choice, you can select the "EDIT" tab at the top, and you can see all the customizable parameters of your item. you can export the items 3D mesh file to your computer and use it for reference. you can alter the mesh file, and you can even import the mesh into texturing programs such as Substance Painter 2.

for this tutorial i will not be doing any serious modifications to the item, i will just be showing you as a beginners guide, how to customize items.

as well as being able to export the 3D mesh, you can also export diffuse maps, normal maps, specular/gloss maps, occlusion maps and other maps that the items may have. (reference image below)

for this simple instructional tutorial i will just export the diffuse/color map. to export the diffuse map, click on the export icon below the maps name, and save it to the desired location on your hard drive. NOTE, when you save the desired map, be sure to add ".png" to the file name! (reference image below)

now that you have your desired map exported and ready for modification, open your map with the program of your choice. i will be using Adobe Photoshop CS6. after you have imported the map, you can modify it to your liking. as a tutorial demonstration, i simply overlayed a rainbow gradient onto the pants. (reference image below)

when you are done modifying your diffuse map, save it as a ".png" image file. now browse to upload a new diffuse map in the workshop and open up your new diffuse map. (reference image below)

when you have selected your new diffuse map it will automatically apply itself in the workshop. (reference image below)

after you have applied your new diffuse map, you can alter some of the default maps by using the Rust workshop slider modifiers to directly modify the items parameters. for this skin as an example i increased the "GLOSSINESS" parameter of the specular/gloss map to make the cloth pants appear to be leather-like.

when you are satisfied with your item, you can give it a proper name. (reference image below)